Public Education Funding Commission relaxes timeline on its awaited recommendations

The Public Education Funding Commission (PEFC) takes the pressure off its October deadline for delivering funding formula recommendations to the state.

The PEFC was created as the formal body in-charge of composing formal recommendations on 1) should the state build a new funding system from scratch or remodel the current unit count system from the 1940s, and 2) how the state go about doing either.

Consultants for the commission, Michael Griffith of the Learning Policy Institute and Sara Barzee of WestEd, suggested at the body’s first two-day meeting that it should decide which route it wants to take by Monday’s meeting, which several members pushed back on.

Commission Chair and State Sen. Laura Sturgeon (D-Brandywine) ultimately agreed that more information would be needed first before the commission could decide if it wants to recommend remodeling or rebuilding.

“We are not gonna make that decision today. We are not gonna make that decision in 2024. That decision will come later, when it has to be– when we reach that fork, where, ‘okay, which way are we going?’” she said.

The body is set to make formal recommendations to the next governor and General Assembly by Oct. 1, 2025, which several members also raised concerns over, arguing the timeline is too rapid.

Sturgeon announced they will keep the deadline to maintain a sense of urgency, but notes the delivered recommendations do not have to be final or compiled in totality.

“By all means, if we get to final recommendations by October — I don’t want to say that we can’t because I know our children are waiting, our students need for us to move quickly and make sure that we’re funding our schools well and funding them equitably — but I don’t want anyone to feel rushed.”

Sturgeon explains recommendations made by October 2025 would at the earliest be implemented by July 2026, meaning any changes could not be made until the fiscal year 27 budget.

And if recommendations were punted to July 2026, changes wouldn’t be made until the state budget cycles from now in FY28.

The committee began discussing various funding tactics to begin looking into over the course of its meetings, including “hold harmless” — a policy that ensures no school districts receive less funding than they already are while the state reworks or implements a new funding formula — as well as the advantages and disadvantages of reforming the current school referendum system.

The commission’s next meeting will be held publicly on November 13.